Diary and correspondence, relating to social conditions in China during and after World War II. Includes letters written by
Carl Otto Hans Schmüser, German citizen and husband of Lydia Schmüser. Also includes form letters and printed ephemera relating
to postwar American politics.

Background

Lydia Bubeshko Schmüser, an American of Russian descent, lived in China with her husband, German citizen, Carl Otto Hans Schmüser,
and their daughter before and during World War II. The family owned and operated a paper and stationary shop in Tientsin,
which they sold shortly after the outbreak of World War II. During World War II and the Japanese occupation of China, the
family fled to the relative quiet of Bedaihe (Peitaiho), a village in northern China, where they owned a summer cottage. After
the war, Schmüser and her daughter immigrated to the United States, settling in Los Angeles in 1947. Carl Otto Hans Schmüser
was unable to join them, due to the restrictive immigration laws of the time. In 1952, the Senate passed a special relief
bill authorizing a visa for Schmüser however he died on the very same day and was never reunited with his wife and daughter.